Brno - The Antitrust Office already has documentation for the competition regarding the design of the Prague National Library. When and whether it will even decide on the fate of Kaplický's octopus design is unknown. The spokesperson for the Office for the Protection of Economic Competition (ÚOHS) Kristián Chalupa only said to ČTK today that the office is still conducting administrative proceedings. The National Library team is awaiting a statement from ÚOHS, which is deciding whether the controversial building in Prague at Letná will be constructed or not. Jan Kaplický probably had no idea during the preparation of his proposal who all would voice their opinions about his work. In addition to many of his colleagues, politicians are also expressing their views, the competition for the library's design is also being addressed by the Supreme Audit Office, and for the third time, antitrust officials are involved. In the previous two cases, they halted the administrative proceedings on the grounds that this type of architectural competition is not within their remit to evaluate. However, at the end of February, a new prompt came from the Ministry of Culture. This time, it does not pertain to the competition itself, in which Jan Kaplický won. The Ministry wants to know whether, based on the results of this competition, a public contract for the construction of the library can be awarded. Public contracts fall under ÚOHS's competencies. However, it is not yet possible to estimate how the office will respond to the ministry's prompt. Chalupa did not wish to comment on the next steps. In the meantime, people are signing a petition in support of the new building. Thousands of signatures are already on the sheets. People, including many well-known personalities, also signed another petition that agrees with the library for several billion crowns, but not at Letná.
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